- IFAPA, CTA and BIOVEGEN have organized this meeting to promote innovative solutions and foster a space for discussion around sustainable and efficient biofertilization.
The president of Andalusian Institute of Agricultural, Fisheries, Food, and Ecological Production Research and Training (IFAPA), Marta Bosquet, the general director of the Technological Corporation of Andalusia (CTA), Elías Atienza, and the president of the Technological Platform for Plant Biotechnology (BIOVEGEN), José Pellicer, inaugurated yesterday in Seville the day “Bio-Solutions in Plant Nutrition: Challenges of Innovation and Collaboration.”
This meeting, which included representatives from companies, research centers, and key players in the agri-food sector, aimed to promote the development of innovative solutions in plant nutrition, as well as to foster a space for discussion to share knowledge and experiences in the search for more sustainable and efficient strategies in the field of biofertilization.
“This activity is an opportunity to boost the competitiveness of our agricultural sector through public-private collaboration,” highlighted Marta Bosquet, who emphasized the commitment to research and experimentation from the Junta de Andalucía. “Possible bio-solutions in plant nutrition are very important to achieve more sustainable, profitable, resilient, and environmentally friendly crops.”
The general director of CTA, Elías Atienza, highlighted that “biofertilization is a current issue in the context of the green transition and decarbonization of agriculture being promoted by the CAP, which involves technical challenges that require a significant effort in R&D+i to resolve.” In this regard, he pointed out that scientific-business cooperation will be essential to tackle these challenges and offered the advisory services and the incentive program from CTA for innovative projects that arise in this area of bio-solutions in plant nutrition.
For his part, José Pellicer emphasized the importance of these days that “allow us to know the advancements, the technologies that are changing productive structures and expectations,” he assured, also highlighting the importance of “uniting companies and people to stay up-to-date on technological advancements.”
The event, which brought together 60 professionals from the sector, featured several presentations by experts and a roundtable discussion. Pablo Quirós, head of R&D projects at Fertinagro, addressed the challenges of biofertilization, while Javier López, technician in the R&D department of DCOOP, discussed the technological needs for biofertilization in the agri-food sector, particularly the case of the Simbioliva Operational Group.
For their part, the experts in the roundtable held during the day discussed the technological offerings and innovative solutions in plant nutrition. Specifically, Vicente Mariscal, researcher at IBVF-CSIC; María Camacho, researcher at Ifapa; Joaquín Pozo, R&D director at Biorizon Biotech; and Berta Rodríguez, scientific coordinator of TIMAC AGRO, participated in the discussion.
The meeting, held at the facilities of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Sustainable Development, also allowed participants to hold bilateral meetings between technology providers and demanders in pre-scheduled encounters, which took place in various networking spaces established during the event.
Innovation in the agri-food sector
This day dedicated to collaboration and innovation in bio-solutions for plant nutrition, organized by CTA, IFAPA, and BIOVEGEN, represents an opportunity to strengthen the collaboration between science and industry, promote technological development, and exchange ideas.
IFAPA is a public research organization attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing, Water and Rural Development, which aims to contribute to the modernization of the agricultural, fishing, and food sectors in Andalusia and to improve their competitiveness through research, technological development, knowledge transfer, and training, while also ensuring environmental sustainability. To this end, the institute has 15 centers distributed across all Andalusian provinces, totaling more than 1,300 hectares of experimental surface and numerous unique facilities. In total, eight scientific-technical areas form a research and training structure in the territory that aims to respond to the sector’s demands and provide the necessary advice to improve its production systems.
CTA is a private foundation with more than 185 member companies and over 20 years of experience, originally promoted by the Junta de Andalucía, with private management and dedicated to the promotion of regional R&D+i and technology transfer. CTA helps companies, universities, technological centers, public administrations, and other entities maximize the return on their R&D+i efforts. Additionally, CTA advises companies on planning an innovation strategy, from identifying their R&D+i needs to formulating projects to address them or finding partners and the necessary funding to carry them out. It also has a growing international activity as a reference partner in collaborative innovation projects, having participated in more than 65 international projects and collaborated with more than 500 entities from 45 countries.
BIOVEGEN is a public-private association, led by the business sector, that brings together entities from the agro-food sector interested in plant innovation. In this regard, public research organizations, administrations, and companies from the agro-food sector participate as breeders of plant varieties, in fertilization and plant nutrition, in plant protection, in agri-biotechnology, and in R&D management. Thus, the objective of BIOVEGEN is to improve the competitiveness of the Spanish agro-food sector through the incorporation of new technologies based on plant biology. To achieve this, they work on generating joint public-private R&D+i projects, promoting greater knowledge and technology transfer to the business sector, contributing to the design of R&D strategies tailored to the agro-food sector, and promoting greater public and private investment in R&D.